So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and she bare him a son. And the women said unto Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord that hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him." And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi, and his name is Obed." This same Obed is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [146-1] _Naomi_ means _pleasant_, while _Mara_ means _bitter_. [148-2] The _ephah_ was equal to about two pecks and five quarts. THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR _By_ LORD BYRON NOTE.--According to the account given in the fifth chapter of _Daniel_, Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon, and the son of the great king Nebuchadnezzar, who had destroyed Jerusalem and taken the Jewish people captive to Babylon. The dramatic incident with which the second stanza of Byron's poem deals is thus described: "In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." After all the Babylonian wise men had tried in vain to read the writing, the "captive in the land," Daniel, was sent for, and he interpreted the mystery. "And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. "This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. "TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. "PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." The fulfillment of the prophecy thus declared by Daniel is described thus briefly: "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom." The King was on his throne, The Satraps[153-1] throng'd the hall; A thousand bright lamps shone O'er that high festival. A thousand cups of gold, In Judah deem'd divine-- Jehovah's vessels hold[154-2] The godless Heathen's wine. In that same hour and hall The fingers of a Hand Came forth against the wall, And wrote as if on sand: The fingers of a man;-- A solitary hand Along the letters ran, And traced them like a wand. The monarch saw, and shook, And bade no more rejoice; All bloodless wax'd his look, And tremulous his voice:-- "Let the men of lore appear, The wisest of the earth, And expound the words of fear, Which mar our royal mirth."